Operating means for vapor electric devices.



P. H. THOMAS. OPERATING MEANS FOR VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVICES. APPLICATION IILEDIIEBJO, 1904.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

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4 M MI W UNITED 'srntrns PATEET orritcn,

PERCY H. THOMAS, or EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIIGNORTO 000mm HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, or NEW YOEK,.-N. Y., a GORPORATIQN or NEW'YORK.

OPERATING MEANS r03. .varoia iimo'rmc nnvrcns.

' To all it may Be-it knovm. tliat"I,"I?ERCY H. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of East Orange, county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have' invented certain-new; and usefullmprovemeii -perating Means for Vapor Electric DBVIC The phenomenab electrode re;

sistance in mercury-T vapor;apparatus de-v signed either for iighting current rectifymg or other purposes, isnow a'matter of knowledge: It is known, moreover, that for the successful and economical production bf light orfor the operation offthe apparatus for other pur oses, the no tive electrode resistan shoud generally broken down I fo r sta ing purposes and afterward maintained in that state. This matter presents considerable difliculty under certain c'ir-' cumstances, since, when thenegative elec-' trode is cold, or when thedevice is operated t by smallcurrents, the mercury has astrong tendency to increase its resistance asa negative electrode, in a marked degree. .NVhen, however, the mercury is heated and-kept heated, it loses'this tendency toward an increase of its resistance; Accordingly, it is, at first thought,'more desirable to design mercury vapor lamps and other mercury vapor'apparatus in such a manner that in normal operation the negative elect-rode *should be maintained at a very high tem- 3 perature. This, however, is not the case, for

the reason that it results in a loss of efliciency in the apparatus, due to the fact that 1 the vapor pressure within the apparatus becomes so great under such circumstances as to introduce a considerable electrical re;

sistance to the passage of the current.

It is the object of the present invention to combine the advantages due to a heated negative electrode; with those due to the presence of a proper and economical vapor pressure. This result is accomplished by' introducing between the negative electrode and the operating portion of the chamber of the apparatus a comparatively narrow inlet passage, so that although'the vapor pres sure at the surface of the negative electrode may be very great, on account of its high temperature, yet, in the chamber itself, on account of its greater cooling capacity, the

'vapor pressure may be of any desired value.

v of which the fol-" lowing is a speciiieation:

the operat" 'chambero c-imam enc ement, -Patented Jan. 10, 1911; Application filed February 10, 1904;." Serial 1T0. 192,926.

The function of the narrow throat or 5 passage above described is that of preventing a too rapid flow of vapor from the negative electrode to the' operating chamber. There is, of course, a slight loss of efiiciency due to the passage of the current 'fromthe 6 surface of the negative electrode to' the throat through a high vapor pressure, but

this maybe made neg igible by a proper-proportiomng of the ap aratus, thedistance between the surface 0 the negative electrode 61 and the mouth .of the" throat being short.

Moreoveglby, properly pro ortionmg the heat diss patingcapacity o the negative electrode and then'arrow throat, and' that of themain ortion of the-chamber, any de- 7 sired" electrode temperature maybe atta ned and an iesired vapor ressuresecured in Ptheapparatus, I have ustrated my inventionas apptlied on handto a mercury vapor 7: mp andlpn the other hand to aconverter or current rectifier, Figure 1 being a sectional view of a lamp embodying my; invention;

- and Fig. 2 being a sim lar of a current rectifying apparatus 8C Referring to the first figure of the drawings, 1 is the main or operating chamber of a mercu vapor lam 2 is a solid electrode" containe therein an mounted'uponalead wire, '3, passing through the wall of the chamber. The negative electrode, 4, is of mercury and is also provided'with a,leadwire shown at .The mercury electrodes is contained in a receptacle, 6, whichis connegfed to the chamber 1 by a narrow 'thoat, 7. The lamp described maybe started by any suitable means and if the proportions of the receptacle 6, the throat 7 and the chamber 1 and the electrode 4 be properly made, so that the heat radiating capaclty of 5 'theseveral parts is suited to the pur osesin view, the electrode 4: may be cause to run hot while at the-same time no excess of vapor will pass over-into the chamber 1 owing to the presence of thethroat 7 which chokes 10 the passage of too much vapor. In this way the appropriate vapor pressure can be maintained in the main or operating chamber and at the same time the advantages of a hot negative electrode which reduces the '10 normal negative electrode reslstance are ob tained.

Fig. 2 represents a small converter having two positive electrodes, 8 and9, lead; wires, 10 andll, ahegative electrode 4,

main operating chamber 1, a receptacle Q, a

lead-wire 5 and a throat, 7. The 0 eratlon of this apparatus will be'clearly understood in View of the description given to the operaj tion of the lamp illustrated in Fig. 1. a

I do not'wish' to limit myself to the employment of mercury as the material for the negative electrode, it being understood that ,any suitable conducting volatilizable material might be employed.

In the description above, it has been assumed that this invention is used for thepurpose of improving the operationof a vapor lamp and that it is desir d to operate with the'negativeelectrode at it high pres- 3 sure and the vaporpath at a lower pressure. In some cases, however, the conditions may .ference 1n pressure means of the narrow be reversed and the high pressure be -re-- quirecl or desirable in the va or path ratherthan in the electrode; In this case, the dif} is made possible .by

throat, as already explained. In other words, my'invention is not limited to the specific type of a paratusj described, but is intended to inclu e an ap paratus' for producing a difference in pressaid negative electrode,

said means conslsting of roduced by the operarom the said chamber a constriction .o y

portion eing' the flow of vapor tion of the apparatus the vapor path, sald constricted container constructing cathode, the 'operation', ;con sis'ting operation of the device;

of means for limiting shortened to permit the unimpeded how of current therethrough.

2. In a vacuum electric apparatus, com prising an hermetically sealed and completely exhausted container and su' able electrodes therefor, one at least of which is a vaporizable reconstructing cathode, the

means for increasing the combination with hemetemperature ofithe negative electrode, said of'a constriction for causpressure of'the vapor together'with conmeans consisting ing an increase in the upon the said electrode, densingmeans whereby the pressure of the vapor in the rest of the mambody of the is lowered below that at the surface of the cathode, thnspermitting the unitibsructed' flow of current between the elecro es.

hermetically .sealed and -'completely ex- "h'au'sted container and suitable electrodes is a vaporizable r'etherefor one of which ,means for steadying of means permitnormalgeneratmn'of vapor during n i h' operation to increase the'temperature of the negative electrode above that corresponding to the pressure-of the 'vapor'in the main body ofthe container. 3 3

A. In a vacuumva'por electric'iapparatus, the combination with a chamber containing a vaporizable' liquid and having arelatively small heat radiating cap'acityjsaid chamber being of a second ber of relatively large heat radiating 'capac-. ity together with means for maintaining a difference in pressure between the two chambers.

4 Signed at New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York, this 6th day of February, A. D1904.

PERCY H. THOMAS. Witnesses: i

WM. H. CAPEL, Groncn H. Smocxnnmcn.

' 3.. In vacuum apparatus-comprising an adapted to be heatedby" the normal cham- 

